Changes
by Lady Vai
Summary: DCAU with a lot of elements from the comics. What would happen if the Pied Piper's mom was on his side? Piper is gay, so be warned.


Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained within. DC does. What they do with them is up to them, but they mess up so badly that I can't help but step in.

Rachel Rathaway was overcome with an intense feeling of déjà vu. Once again, a top-of-the-field doctor was sitting next to her husband Osgood while a nanny stood to the side holding the hand of her child. The only difference was that this time it was her little Jerrie instead of her Hartley.

"Let me see if I have this right-you wish to perform controversial experiments on our _other_ child?" she demanded.

"The procedure is hardly controversial, Rachel. Dr. Epstein is the top neurologist in the world. The only thing preventing the procedure from being commonplace is the cost," Osgood reasoned.

Rachel turned to face the middle-aged doctor. "This has never been performed before, am I correct?" she asked keeping her voice firm and even.

She smiled inwardly when she noticed that the doctor had begun to sweat nervously. He mumbled "Well yes, that is technically correct, but theoretically-"

"Theoretically should have no further place in our family. Look at what happened with Hartley! I am by no means allowing you to take another of my children from me!" Rachel could no longer keep the emotion out of her voice and she felt her throat closing up with unshed tears.

"Would you please excuse us," Osgood asked and Dr. Epstein nearly ran from the room. The nanny, with Jerrie in tow, followed at a more sedate pace.

"Rachel, be reasonable…" Osgood began.

"I am being reasonable! I refuse to let you mutilate my other child!" she nearly shrieked back, no longer caring for her composure because Osgood was the only other one there.

"It is for their own good! They would get nowhere in life while handicapped, even with the Rathaway name!" Osgood responded, voice rising to levels it hadn't since Hartley had told them about his first boyfriend.

"YOU may be a Rathaway, but I am a Darrow, and so are Hartley and Jerrie! I no longer wish for my children to be around you. Just look at what your meddling did before, now we have absolutely no contact with our son and he runs around as a costumed criminal! That will not happen with my daughter!" Rachel paused to regain her composure and continued at an even tone. "I will be leaving now with Jerrie. My attorney will contact you in the morning."

Rachel glided out of the room, paying no attention to Osgood spluttering in rage behind her.

As she shut the parlor doors behind her she turned to Dr. Epstein. "We will not require your services. Please leave the premises immediately." The Doctor hurried to comply.

She turned to the nanny, Laura as she recalled, and ordered "Pack Jerrie a bag. She will need clothing for a week or two. Wait for me at the front door." Rachel turned away. "Oh, and bring all her favorite toys as well," she added over her shoulder.

Rachel managed to make it to her bedroom and lock the door before a sob escaped her lips. She waited, but it was the only one.

She filled a Louis Vuitton bag with clothing, including suits that she had never before had the need to wear, cosmetics and other toiletries, some jewels that she had either bought herself or that were inherited but none of the ones Osgood had given her, her address book, her Kord-Pad tablet and charger, and the only picture she had of her two children together.

Hartley had snuck into the house to meet his baby sister. In costume, he cradled her gently over her crib. Jerrie was reaching up to him in delight. Hartley's face was filled with love and tenderness. The old nursemaid, she had helped with Hartley when he was a baby as well, had taken the picture, and after Osgood had thrown their son out she had presented a copy to Rachel. Although this was her only proof, Rachel was sure that Hartley visited their house at least a few times a year to see his sister.

Rachel looked around the room and realized that she felt no attachment to anything else in it. She grabbed her purse and the suitcase, marched out into the hallway, and left her room for the final time.

Laura was waiting with Jerrie and a suitcase. Rachel addressed her "Tell Mr. Harlow to have my Mercedes brought to the front. I suppose that is the least conspicuous of the cars." Laura nodded and left to search for the butler.

Rachel turned her attention to her 8-year-old daughter. "Jerrie, we're going away for a while. We might even see Hartley!" Although Rachel hadn't considered this before, she decided that she would try to reconcile with her son, at least for Jerrie's sake.

"Hartley!" Jerrie trilled happily, confirming to Rachel that she and Hartley had met many times.

Laura returned at the same moment that Osgood entered the front hall. Rachel told Laura "Take the bags and Jerrie to the car. I will be out in a moment." Laura nodded and pulled Jerrie out the door.

"Don't do this Rachel. It isn't good for Geraldine," Osgood pleaded.

"And how would you know what is or isn't best for _Jerrie_. You've barely said 10 words to her in her entire life. No wonder Hartley won't talk to us. I suppose I'll see you in court. Goodbye, Osgood."

As she walked to the door she forced herself not to look back or even waver. She had met him when she was a freshman and he was a senior at Princeton University. He had been suave, dashing, and socially acceptable. She married him a month after she graduated and less than a year later Hartley was born. It hadn't taken long for Rachel to discover the true Osgood Rathaway and realize that she had never truly loved him. But by then, it was too late. With Hartley she couldn't bring herself to destabilize her family. Now she wished that she had left right away, instead of putting off the date until Hartley turned eighteen. But six months before his birthday, she discovered that she was pregnant again. Although Hartley left before he could even find out, she still remained due to the prospect of being single and pregnant at the age of 39. But now, she has had enough.

Her heels decisively clacked down the marble steps in front of the house and the dear old butler, Mr. Harlow, who had been her confident since she arrived at the mansion, opened the car door for her.

She quickly wrote a sizeable check to Laura and presented it to her with the explanation "You have done wonderful work with Jerrie but I would like to raise my daughter now. If you should ever need a letter of recommendation, come to me not to Osgood." Laura accepted the check with a nod, eyes widening when she saw the amount.

She turned to Mr. Harlow and impulsively hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her and patted her gently on the back. "I am so proud of you, my dear. You are doing what is right."

"Please come visit us whenever you want. I don't think I could stand never seeing you again," Rachel replied.

When they pulled away, both had tears in their eyes. Mr. Harlow helped her into the car and gave a deep bow as she started the engine. Rachel hoped that he would retire soon. Over the years she had watched it become more and more difficult for him to reach the tea kettle above the stove for their regular midnight conversations in the kitchen.

Still, as Rachel pulled away from the mansion and down the drive she couldn't help but feel liberated.

"Momma, where are we going?" Jerrie asked from the back seat as they drove out of the wrought iron gates.

"Well Jerrie, I think that we will stay at a nice hotel, maybe that new one in Central City, for now. We'll try and visit your brother very soon." Jerrie predictably brightened at the mention of Hartley and quickly fell asleep. She rarely ever got to leave the house due to her condition. Rachel smiled at the peaceful expression on her daughter's face in the rearview mirror.

She woke Jerrie up only to bring her to the hotel restaurant and order her favorite, spaghetti and meatballs. Jerrie ate them happily and then was left with a hotel employee while Rachel took care of business.

First off, she called her Aunt Gladys. Gladys had been divorced so many times and always came off the best in the proceedings so she was bound to have a good lawyer.

"Aunt Gladys, its Rachel. I'm afraid that this isn't a pleasure call, I was actually wondering if I could have the number of your divorce attorney?"

"Are you finally leaving Osgood then? I don't know how anyone can stand being married to the same person for decades! I usually lose interest within two years even if they're particularly fascinating. I'm afraid I can't talk now darling, a member of the Justice League just showed up at my party! Booster Gold-have you heard of him? I think he'd make a good eighth husband don't you? Anywho darling, I just emailed you the contact information for my attorney. He's very good and doesn't even charge exorbitantly for it! Take care darling!" Gladys sang as she hung up.

Rachel chuckled at the antics of her favorite aunt while she checked her email on her Kord-pad. Sure enough, there was the information. She decided to deal with that in the morning. She then looked up the expose on the Rogues that came out last month in the paper. With a quick glance-over of the article, she had the valet bring around her car and set off across the river to Keystone City.

As far as she could tell, Keystone did not have a 'good part' of town. Every street seemed dodgy and there were dark alleys all over. Litter fluttered in the wake of her car, by far the nicest vehicle she saw on the streets. She carefully executed a left-hand turn onto Fourth Street, speeding past a group of street-walkers desperately trying to get the attention of the driver of such a nice car. She parked right in front of her destination, deciding not to trust her foggy memories of college self-defense classes to protect her if she walked down the potentially dangerous street.

She carefully locked her car and straightened up. She strode confidently into a little hole-in-the-wall bar that the article had indicated as a favored gathering spot for Flash's villains. While she did see some costumed people in the bar, Abra Kadabra and the Rainbow Raider most notably, for the most part the bar was filled with rough-looking men in ordinary clothes. To her disappointment, she did not see any of the Rogues present.

As soon as she had walked in the bar became silent except for the sports game playing on the television above the bar. All eyes followed her as she walked to a table and sat down. A tough-looking woman with a heart-shaped tattoo on her chest came over and asked, in a voice raspy from years of smoking, "What'll you have?"

Rachel looked up at her and replied "I suppose a gin and tonic would be welcome." The waitress nodded and returned with her drink moments later. The waitress set down the glass, glared at the bar in general which caused everyone to return to what they were doing, and sat down across from Rachel.

"So, what brings someone like you here?" she asked bluntly.

"My name is Rachel. I'm looking to make contact with my son and the newspaper indicated that this would be a good place to start looking."

"And just who is your son?" the waitress asked leaning forward and narrowing her eyes.

"The Pied Piper, do you know him?" Rachel asked as the woman's demeanor shifted.

"Piper is one of my favorite customers! My name is Marilyn, by the way." She waved over the barman who set a bottle of cheap beer on the table in front of her. "Now my question is, why are you looking for him?"

"Well, we have had some family troubles in the past," Rachel began and Marilyn snorted. "But I have just left my husband and wish to reconcile with my son if at all possible or at the very least let him know where his sister is so he doesn't unnecessarily break into the mansion looking for her."

Marilyn eyed Rachel appraisingly. "If you hurt Piper in any way, you'll have me to answer to. But I like you, so I'm going to trust you." She pulled out her order pad and started sketching a map. "We're here right now. Go two blocks further down until you get to High Street. Turn right, after three blocks you'll see an old department store called Worthman's. Now that's their hideout. They're out pulling a job right now so don't expect anyone to be home. In about half an hour they should be back if the Flash didn't catch them all. If it's been an hour, leave. They're in jail."

"Thank you very much, Marilyn. This is for the drink and your tip," Rachel placed a $100 bill in front of the waitress. While some of the surrounding patrons, all non-costumed, looked surprised Marilyn didn't bat an eye as she slipped the money into her apron. From what Rachel had heard of the Flash Rogues, she guessed that they were generous to those that they liked.

She walked out of the bar, not sparing a glance for any of the customers. She was pleased to see that no one had touched her car and she quickly followed Marilyn's directions.

The old department store was impossible to miss, even among the other rundown shops in what appeared to be the central shopping district of Keystone. Rachel sighed as she noticed the boarded up windows all along the street. The Worthman's sign was faded almost to the point of being illegible. She tried the door, not surprised to find it locked, and stepped back to think.

She blinked and knelt down. Surely the Rogues wouldn't have kept a single manual lock as the only means of security? But the lock was the only one visible and it was just the type that her family used to have on the back door into the kitchen at home when she was a teenager, before it was replaced due to her nocturnal wanderings. She carefully removed a bobby pin from her French twist hairstyle and worked it into the lock.

The lock clicked after less than 5 seconds of maneuvering, apparently she still had it! She pushed the door open hesitantly and looked inside. No traps that she could see, but she was still careful when she walked inside. To her immense surprise, nothing happened.

The hideout was stereotypically male. The TV was big, the couches shabby, and everything from old Chinese takeout boxes to weapons were left lying around. Rachel took a handkerchief out of her bag and used it to move aside a pair of dirty socks and a TV remote and gingerly picked up a pair of wind-up teeth before tossing them across the room. Sure enough, they exploded into a pile of purple goo as soon as they hit the floor.

Satisfied that nothing else remained on the couch, she gingerly sat down, pulled out her Kord-pad, and waited.

Exactly on time, loud voices approached the hideout. Rachel put away her Kord-pad and straightened up in anticipation.

"I can't believe that actually worked!" one crowed.

"Yeah, yeah be quiet. Rory and Jesse are on their way to Iron Heights and we-" Captain Cold, the speaker, cut off as he noticed the unlocked door. He pulled out his cold gun and slowly pushed the door open. He stiffened in surprise when he noticed the nicely dressed woman in her mid-40s sitting on one of the sofas. The rest filed in behind him in various states of shock and confusion.

"Mother! What are you doing here?" Piper demanded as he pushed his way to the front of the group.

She took a breath and began "Well I had no other way to contact you-" Piper scoffed. "Which I hardly blame you for," she quickly added.

He took a moment to consider. Scowling he beckoned her towards the back of the store. "I will count my share of the take when I get back," he warned the other Rogues before getting out of earshot. She noticed that most of the villains were surrounding a card table and splitting up a large pile of money, but Captain Cold was watching them carefully.

"What is this all about, Mother?" Piper asked harshly.

"I just thought that you should know that I am leaving your father." At Piper's skeptical expression she explained "He wanted to do an experimental procedure on Jerrie, but after what happened to you I wouldn't stand for it! Also, Jerrie would like to see you."

The cloud of anger that overcame Hartley at the mention of experiments drained away at the prospect of seeing his little sister. He settled on looking pleased but surprised.

"Don't be so shocked dear; it was a long time coming. I do regret not doing it soon enough to protect you, but then I wouldn't have my darling Jerrie."

Hartley still looked at a loss, but he blurted out "I can meet you at…uh…the zoo! Jerrie should like that. Tomorrow afternoon? Oh the Central City Zoo of course, the Keystone one is falling apart."

"1 o'clock at the Main Gate then? We'll talk more there, I think that your partners are beginning to consider cheating you," Rachel pointed out as indeed, the dividing up had stopped and the only pile left on the table was Piper's.

The two walked back to the front of the store and Rachel addressed the group "It was a pleasure meeting you boys. Just a suggestion-do upgrade your security. If I can pick the lock then it is far too easy."

"We'll keep that in mind Mrs.…uh…Darrow," Captain Cold replied gruffly.

Rachel turned and looked at her son in surprise. "Well that is correct now, or it will be soon, but somehow I think that was by accident. Hartley?"

"Hartley? What kinda fruity name izzat?" Captain Boomerang snorted into his beer.

"Mother, I had an alias! Thanks for blowing it!" Hartley hissed.

"I'm sorry dear, but how was I supposed to know? Now give me a hug," she ordered and he hurried to comply. She couldn't help but notice that he winced when she touched his back but chalked it up to injuries from their latest altercation.

"Congratulations on your successful 'job' everyone. Take care," Rachel said as she swept out of the hideout.

"Well, _Hartley_, what was that all about?" Len demanded as soon as the door swung shut.

"Just some family stuff," Piper sighed as he gingerly sunk down onto a sofa.

"Your mum looked real rich. She one of them, you know, _Darrows_?" Digger asked.

"Yes, she is and no, I will not help you steal from them," Piper replied wearily as he counted his share of the take.

"She does have a point about the lock," Mark said after a moment of silence.

Everyone looked to Len. "Yeah, she does. We'll try and rig up some better stuff tomorrow, but right now we have to focus on getting Rory and Jesse out."

Piper stood up and said "I'm sorry but I can't help with the breakout. I've got stuff tomorrow." The others grumbled, but let him go.

As he walked out his enhanced hearing picked up Len saying "Alright so Flash won't be expecting us to try and break them out tonight…"

Once she got back to the hotel, Rachel had just enough time to get Jerrie settled down and tucked in before the 11 o'clock news. She switched on the television and predictably, the Rogues' heist was the top story that night.

A grey-haired anchor gave the introduction before they switched to footage of the scene. Apparently, the young reporter Linda Park had been next door to the bank with a camera crew interviewing the owner of an animal shelter about the adoption fair going on next week.

They showed some security footage of what happened before the camera crew got there and it showed the Rogues stride out of the bank's bathroom in full costume while no one paid any attention. Piper removed the flute from his lips and immediately the bank burst into chaos.

The story switched over to Linda and her footage as the robbery continued. Weather Wizard and Trickster were hovering above the bank, on lookout for the Flash, while Captain Cold got the money from the vault. Mirror Master hovered by the bathroom, ready for a quick exit if needed. Everyone else watched over the hostages.

Trickster and Linda both cried out as the noticed the red blur headed straight for the bank. Weather Wizard and Trickster immediately sprang into action while Captain Boomerang and Heatwave ran out of the bank to help.

Flash managed to take out Weather Wizard and Trickster while dodging boomerangs and flame blasts. He slung a limp Trickster over his shoulder and knocked into Heatwave at high speed. He dragged the two over to a just-arrived cop car and headed back to the fight. At that moment Rachel's son stepped out of the bank and Rachel waited to see how he was injured.

He calmly brought his flute up and began to play. Flash froze in place while the other Rogues ran back into the bank. He continued playing as he backed into the building. Captain Cold was holding a bag and everyone ran into the bathroom. Piper continued playing presumably until they made it through a mirror. Flash unfroze and zoomed into the bank but it was too late.

Rachel frowned and ignored the interview Linda had with Flash, only noting how oblivious Flash was to the flirting, to think about what had happened. Flash hadn't been within 20 feet of her son at any time, so how was he injured? She did a quick search and found that Hartley hadn't been involved in any fights in the last week. She decided to think about it tomorrow.

She was about to switch the TV off when she heard the breaking news that the rest of the Rogues had been captured while trying to break Heatwave and Trickster out of Iron Heights. She watched just long enough to see that her son was not among them before going to sleep.


End file.
